Glamour Shots?! I don't need no stinking glamour shots

...is essentially what Ellie was telling me. I tried to take a few pictures of her this morning and she was having NONE of it. This face really says it all.

Here are a few other faces caught on camera including:

"Who me?"

Just waking up from a nap after our morning walk. I understand, I feel the same way when I wake up, too.

Staring into the middle distance

And finally, a few photos from Sunday afternoon. Ellie was all dressed up for church and it was beautiful outside. I couldn't resist sitting her under the fig tree in the backyard and snapping away. At least she humored me for a few minutes and even managed to laugh at her mother.

New laughs and old friends

It is hard to believe that Ellie has been with us for 9 weeks now. In that time so much has happened, and we are amazed by her everyday. I can't lie, this child has hundreds of photos taken on a weekly basis, but I understand that as her very biased Mom, that I am probably the only one who thinks each and every photo is necessary:) Here are (only) a few of Ellie at 9 weeks. She learned to sit in the Boppy pillow and more importantly, is starting to laugh! Her smiles and laughter keep us amused everyday...

In addition to Ellie's new skills, we had our first NJ visitors, some old friends: Edith came up from Baltimore and Tia arrived from London (en route to Hawaii) for the weekend. We were thrilled to have them as our first visitors to Princeton and to meet Ellie. On Sunday, Dave and Sarah joined us from Brooklyn and drove over to see us. Edith made incredible blintzes for the occasion topped with blackberries from the Farmer's Market. (Jersey produce, love it!) The seven of us then took Ellie on a stroll around Princeton's campus. The day was beautiful and a first visit for Edith, Dave, and Sarah. Having such good friends in our new home was a wonderful way to continue getting settled.

"Oh, I love this lady with the red hair!"

Tia Tia came to visit all the way from London

A mix of items from the weekend: Hungarian wine, chocolate biscuits, the baby monitor, and Ellie's Tarheel burp cloth

Outside the Princeton Chapel

Long Beach Island: Ellie's first trip down the shore

Oh, Jersey. Where the hair is big, the shorts are denim, and the beach is miraculously transformed into...the shore. Our family was so worn down from moving that we immediately headed to Long Beach Island to get a little R & R with our extended family: D's aunt Katherine, cousin Patty, and Patty's sons Robert and Shawn (plus Hank and Ann for a couple of days). We've spent some wonderful weeks at LBI with this crew, and are super excited that it's so close now. A couple of days of sun, sand, and surf were just what we needed to relieve some stress.

This is a group that hadn't met Ellie yet, so needless to say we barely got to hold her for the three days we were at LBI. Katherine, Patty, and Ann were all very excited to keep Ellie safe and happy, so we happily spent some time on the beach. The newest member of the Waldron-Meyer clan was certainly a welcome addition at LBI!

So, one thing we learned was that Ellie loves the beach. While still a little young for the water, walking in the sand was a real favorite. She is always happy when she's outdoors, and she really seemed to enjoy the salt air (she tried to lick the salt residue from the Baby Bjorn). The beach also gave her a chance to accessorize (that hat is ridiculous, but we loved it) and to prove that she was her mother's daughter...

Nothing says Jersey shore quite like a highly questionable, but entirely enjoyable, amusement park. One night, Ellie's cousins Shawn and Robert decided to take her (with some adult supervision) to Fantasy Island. While they rode the pirate ship, the tea cups, and the tilt-a-whirl, Ellie had a pleasant nap and watched her father win her a prize. It took five bucks and ten rubber frogs (which he tried to catapult into lily pads) but the neon green tiger shark was well worth it. Of course, Robert (who is nine) immediately won a much larger, much nicer bear which he gave to Ellie, but Phil is not keeping score...

All things considered, this trip to the shore was a wonderful and educational journey for Ellie. She got to meet new people (who love her very much), see new things, and experience the sunny side of life. It seems like the Jersey shore isn't such a bad place after all.

The Big Move: Cville to Princeton

After six years in our beloved Charlottesville, it was finally time for us to leave. We are so excited to being a new chapter in Princeton, but feel a great deal of sadness leaving our home. Cville has been a place that has brought us so much joy for so many reasons: we have family here, we have incredible friends, our professional and academic lives were fulfilling and successful...and we really loved the restaurants;) It was time to move on, but we will miss Cville. Our last week was quite hectic, but seemed a fitting end to our time. We had one of our dear friends, Rebecca, come and visit. She and her husband Mike lived here for the last few years before moving to DC. She got to meet Ellie (sadly, Mike had to work and didn't get to make the trip). Ellie was so happy in her arms that she promptly fell asleep!

On Wednesday, the movers came and packed everything up from our house. It was surreal to see the moving truck with our belongings. Oddly, getting movers made us feel just as grown up (or even more grown up) as having a baby...

We felt a little slap happy that day, part sleep deprivation, part exhaustion (physical and emotional). Here is the photographic evidence of our delirium. Isn't this the best way to pack Ellie's stuff? :)

After the truck was loaded, Phil drove up to NJ with the truck to supervise the unloading while Ellie and I moved in with Steve. Phil came back to Cville on Thursday night so the three of us could spend our last few days together with Steve, Dawkins, and Rugby. It was fitting to end our time in Cville with lots of time on the back deck with our family. Ellie loved living in the same town as her Padrino, even for just a few weeks of her life.

A typical afternoon: Ellie in repose and Phil working

Ellie trying to sit with Rugby

Big Brown (Dawkins)

Brunch the day we left on Steve's back deck: we know Ellie will love bacon as much as her Aunt Rachel!

After brunch, we said a difficult goodbye to Steve. Then Phil, Ellie, and I drove from Cville to Princeton in just about seven hours. Ellie was a very, very good baby and slept for almost five hours of the trip. It was pretty impressive. She had her moments of freaking out (crossing into Delaware; clearly she does not love tax free shopping or sports betting), but all in all, she did an incredible job. We arrived at around 8 p.m. - there were boxes everywhere, but we were home. And so we began the Princeton chapter of our life...

So much family, so little time (Southern edition)

Just a couple of days before we left Cville, we had a wonderful day filled with visitors. A number of Haberkerns came to meet Ellie: Uncles Charlie and John, Aunt Sherry, cousins Kerry and Jill and Kerry's boyfriend Justin, and the matriarch of the family, Grandma Tota. Since our house was a wreck as we packed (what felt like hundreds of boxes), we all met up at Steve's house for lunch and then spent the afternoon walking around Grounds.

Ellie is blessed to have two great-grandmothers! (She'll meet the other one next month in Massachusetts.) At 92, Grandma Tota is just amazing and she was so excited to spend time with her first great-grandchild.

Ellie smiled a lot for her Uncle Charlie who came to see her all the way from Seattle!

Kerry, Aunt Sherry and Jill brought Ellie some classic children's books - we can't wait to start reading them!

Uncles John visited from Norfolk!

Ellie loves this super soft stuffed dog from Great-Grandma To...maybe we'll have to name it Di after Grandma's dog;)

Ellie is definitely part of a large extended Haberkern family that loves her very much. Thanks for traveling to see us!